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PR 5560 
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NOTES 



ON THE 



ARTHURIAN EPIC 



Ct^c C^bylls of tl^c King 



WILLOUGHBY READE, M. El 



:iil:.,|,.J| iill*" 






Copyright, 1908, by 

Willoqg^hby Reade, Episcopal High School 

(near) Alexandria. Va. 



0- 



V 






FOREWORD. 



The main purpose of these notes is to set forth briefly 
certain facts concerning the Arthurian Epic in general 
and the Epic's latest setting, "The Idylls of the King" in 
particular, which may help the young student to a fuller 
knowledge of this wonderful romance than he might get 
without such help. And because I believe that without 
a proper understanding of the inner meaning of the 
Idylls, the reader will fail to grasp the Laureate's pur- 
pose, *I have dwelt particularly on the parable and 
allegory which they contain. 

There are some, I know, who criticise such treatment 
of the Idylls as unnecessary ; some even who claim, in 
spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that 
neither parable nor allegory is intended. Such literal 
folk are, however, in a painful minority among Tennyso- 
nian scholars. 

This poem, as much as any in the language, requires 
to be read with the heart rather than with the head. 
The warfare between Soul and Sense is all around us, 
and those who are fighting under the banner of the cross 
may well find here in the character of the old Celtic King 
an example which shall fire their hearts that they may do 
noble deeds, and which shall make them strive like him to 

" Have power on this dark land to lighten it, 
And power on this dead world to make it live." 



In this restless age of commercialism run mad, of the 
wild struggle for wealth and place, it is good to turn 
away for a little time to a book like this, and, drinking 
deep of its teachings and pondering well its subtle mean- 
ings, feel oneself lifted into that purer, clearer air in 
which the great Laureate lived. 

WILLOUGHBY READE. 

Episcopal High School, 

{near) Alexandria, Virginia. 



THE ARTHURIAN EPIC. 



THE SUBJECT OF THE EPIC. 

The subject of the Arthurian Epic is far grander than 
that of the other great epics of the world. It is not a 
story of a war waged for the recovery ot a stolen queen 
(Iliad) ; not a recital of the pursuit of revenge (Nibel- 
ungenlied) ; not a song of earthly glory, vanity and war- 
fare (Chanson de Roland) ; but a history of men banded 
together under a noble leader, and sworn to the grand 
object of redressing human wrong and upholding against 
heathen invaders the faith of "our fair father Christ." 

THE ORIGIN OF THE EPIC. 

Between 449 and 550 A. D., three Teutonic tribes, 
the Angles, Saxons and Jutes made many invasions of 
Britain, conquered the eastern part of the country, and 
drove the native Celts (Kymry) back into Wales and 
Cornwall, some of them crossing even into Armorica or 
Brittany. Arthur was the leader of the Kymry, who 
were Christians, against the heathen Saxons. For some 
time he was successful, defeating the Saxons in twelve 
great battles, but was at last conquered, when he became 
the hero of the vanquished race. His memor}' was kept 
alive by the Welsh minstrels, and as time went by these 
songs were added to and multiplied a hundred fold, and 
such wonderful deeds were ascribed to the king that at 
last he became almost a demi-god. 



THE WJ<ITfc;j<S OF THE EPIC. 

Group I , the Bards. About the middle of the eij^hteenth 
century, Owen Jones, a poor Welsh boy, conceived the 
idea of giving to the world the wealth of Celtic literature 
which he had heard was stored away in the castles of the 
rich He knew that without a golden key he could not 
unlock this storehouse, and so he went to London as a 
clerk and at last made a fortune in the fur trade. This 
he spent in employing copyists of the old Welsh bardic 
poetry which was afterwards translated into English. 
These poems were published under the title of "The 
Myvyrian Archailogy of Wales." 

The most celebrated collection of Welsh stories pub- 
lished in the nineteenth century is Lady Guest's transla- 
tion of "The Red Book of Hergest," known as " The 
Mabinogian." (Welsh, main nog, a minstrel.) 

The first mention of Arthur is found in the poems of 
three of these famous bards, contemporary, or almost 
contemporary, with Arthur : Llywarch Hen (Hen. Welsh 
for aged), Aneurin and Taliessin. Llywarch, when young, 
served under Arthur, and was present at the battle of 
Longport (501 A. D. ). 

Group 2, the Chroniclers. Nennius, the historian of 
the eighth century, tells us of twelve great battles fought 
bv Arthur, in all of which the Celts were victorious. In 
the last of these, Badon Hill, Arthur slew 960 Saxons 
with his own hand (!) 

In I 147 Geoffrey of Monmouth made a translation of 
an old Welsh MS., " Btut-y-Brenhined " (A History of 
the Welsh Kings), which Walter Calenius, Archdeacon of 
Oxford, had brought to England from Brittany. A large 
part of this "translation" was doubtless added by 
Geoffrey as it contains many legends common in Wales 
but unknown to the Bretons. 



5 

In 1 1 55 Robert (?) Wace translated Geoffrey's book into 
Norman French under the title of "Li Roman de Brut.'' 
(The Romance of Brutus.)* 

In 1205, Layamon, a Welsh priest, translated this 
work into Saxon under the title " Brut." (N. B. — This 
is the first setting of the legends in English.) 

Group J, the Romancers. The chief of these is Walter 
Map (or Mapes), poet and theologian at the court of 
Henry II. He added (circum 1 185 J to the stories already 
in existence "La Questedel Saint Graal." " Le Roman 
de Lancelot du Lac, " and ' ' Le Roman de La Mort Artus. " 
His "Quest of the Holy Grail" gives the stories for the 
first time a central point of unity and thus makes an epic 
possible, t These additions were evidently made for the 
purpose of spiritualizing the romances. 

Min.or writes of this group : Robert de Borron, Luces 
de Gast, Helie de Borron and Crestien de Troyes. 

In 1485 Sir Thomas Malory (Maleore) published (in 
English) his "La Mort Dkrthur." This was one of the 
first books printed by Caxton. The work is largely a 
compilation of existing stories, has but little plot and 
does not preserve the unities. Still it has a magnetic 
charm which few can resist. 

For more than three hundred years after this time there 
were no other writers of the Arthurian Epic. In the 
splendid realism of Shakespeare, in the stern puritanism 
of Milton, and in the elegance of the Critical School the 
mystic Arthur was forgotten. Then caine the age of 
Napoleon, of Wellington and of Nelson, and hero-worship 
was again revived. Scott wrote his legends of chivalry, 

*Brutus, son of Ascanius, after the fall of Troy, is said to have been 
directed by the oracle of Diana at Leogecia to seek an island in the west- 
ern sea where he might found a second Troy. He set sail, reached 
Britain and founded the ancient British Empire. 

fSee definition of epic, page 11. 



two editions of Malory»were published in 1817, and in 
1842 Alfred, Lord Tennyson j^ave to the world his 
Morte d' Arthur, the first in the order in which they were 
written, of the " Idylls of the King." 

CHIVALRY IN THE EPIC. 

The element of chivalry is an anachronism. Wanting, 
of course, in the Welsh poems, it. was added by the 
Chroniclers to give the sto'ries a setting suitable to 
the times. 

TENNYSON'S FIRST USE OF THE EPIC. 

The poems The Lady of Shalott and The Palace of Art 
were published in 1832. 

Sir Gallahad, Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere and 
Morte d' Arthur ("The Epic") in 1842. 

TENNYSON'S PLACE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

Time is one of the truest tests of a classic. We are 
yet. too near to Tennyson to make any safe prediction as- 
to his final place among the masters of English song. 
He is, however, without doubt the greatest representative 
poet of the nineteenth century. " In the future," says Dr. 
Van Dyke, '"when men call the roll of poets who have 
given splendor to the name of England, they will begin 
with Shakespeare atid Milton — and who shall have the 
third place if it be not Tennyson .-*" And Stedman says 
in speaking of the Idylls: "And. indeed, if this be not 
the greatest narrative* poem since 'Paradise Lost,' what 
other English production are you to name in its place .-* " 

FORMS OF VERSE IN THE IDYLLS. 

The Idylls are written in blank verse. In regular 
blank verse there is no rhyme ; no stanza (but paragraph) 



division ; a pause at end of line. Each line has five 
iambic feet and usually contains (at least) one caesura, 
generally near the middle of the line. Example of 
normal line : 

"The war | of Time || against | the soul | of man." 

Now a succession of such lines would prove extremely 
monotonous. Hence the many variations of the regular 
form. Chief of these : 

I. Variety in use of caesura: 

(a) Line with more than one caesura : 

" Damsel," || Sir Gareth answered gently, || " say " 

(b) Caesura near beginning of line : 

"Crazed ! || How the villain lifted up his voice." 

(c) Caesura near end of line : 

" How can ye keep me tethered to you ? || Shame ! " 

2. The run-on line : 

" Took horse, descended the slope street, and past 
The weird white gate." 

3. Change in stress. 

(a) By omitting one stress : 

"Thou art the kingliest of all kitchen knaves." 

(b) By adding a stress : 

" 'Nox'— ' Mors,' beneath five figures, armed men," 

(c) By using some kind of foot other than the iambic : 

"Then would he whistle rapid as any lark." 

4. By change in length of line : 
(a) Eleven syllable line : 

"Device and sorcery and unhappiness " 



(b) Twelve S}llable^line : 

" 'O Lancelot, Lancelot,' and she clapped her hands." 

(c) Thirteen syllable line : 

" Camelot, a city of shadowy palaces." 
5. Extra unaccented syllable at end of line : 

" Less dull than thou, will hide with mantling flowers." 
PECULIARITIES OF THE -VERSE. 

1. Large use of Saxon element. (The four Gospels, 
6 per cent; Shakespeare, 10 per cent; Tennyson, 12 
per cent.) 

2. Regular repeated structure and other forms of 
repetition : 

" and grew 

Forgetful of his promise to the King, 
Forgetful of the falcon and the hunt, 
Forgetful of the tilt and tournament, 
Forgetful of his glory and his name, 
Forgetful of his princedom and its cares." 

" but always in the night 

Blood-red, and sliding down the blacken'd marsh 
Blood-red, and on the naked mountain top 
Blood-red, and in the sleeping mere below • 
Blood-red." 

" Was chosen Abbess, there, an Abbess, lived 
tor three brief years, and there an Abbess, past 
To where, beyond these voices, there is peace." 

"Storm at the top — and, when we gain'd it, storm 
Round us, and death." 

3. Word compounding. (Tennyson has made larger 
use of this old Saxon method of word formation than has 
any other modern poet.) 

"In ever-highering eagle-circles up." 
" Dish-washer and broach-turner, loon ! " 



4- Compounds in dis. 

"dis-caged," "dis-edg^e," " dis-linked." 

5. Revival of obsolete and use of archaic terms : 

enow for enough. rake for to fly wide at. 

joyance for in full joy. graff for a graft, 

tarriance for tarrying. ruth for pity, 

lets me for hinders me. liefer for rather, 
cracks for thunder claps, lissom for lithesome, 

concluded for shut up. error for wandering, 
rathe for early (modern comparative, rather). 

6. Large use of onomatopoeia and alliteration : 

" Clang battle-axe aud clash brand ! " 

" Oilily bubbled up the mere." 

• "And dazzled by the livid-flickering fork, 

And deafen'd with the stammering cracks and claps." 

" She shook from fear and for her fault she wept." 

" With darted spikes and splinters of the wood." 

QUOTATION FROM Dr VAN DYKE. 

"There were three things which drew Tennyson to 
this subject and made him choose it. First, there was 
an aesthetic impulse which made him wish to write about 
something beautiful and picturesque. Then, there was 
a religious impulse which made him feel the deep mean- 
ing of the old myths and legends, like the Quest of the 
Holy Grail and the Return of Arthur. Last, there was 
a patriotic impulse, which made him desire to have a 
hero of his own country and to give in poetry his own 
view of the things which build up or pull down a kingdom. 

"Of course, with all three of these impulses at work 
in his mind, Tennyson could not take the story just as 
Malory or any one of the old writers gave it. He must 



lO 

be free to choose from each of them just as much of their 
material as suited him, and to mould and shape it in his 

own way And he did four things with the 

Arthurian story during the long time while he was at 
work upon it. 

"First, he brought order into the arrangement of the 

different parts Second, he made the figure 

of Arthur stand out, clear and consistent, as the man 

who built up and supported the kingdom. . 

Third, he gave to his characters the thoughts and feelings 

of men and women at the present day 

This was just what each successive writer had done with 

the story Fourth, he gave his fancy free 

play to adorn his poem with all kinds of beautiful de- 
scription, of scenery, of costume, of natural objects, of 
the looks and actions of men and women." 

THE IDYLLS AS AN EPIC. 

The term Idylls is perhaps unfortunate as a title for 
this poem, for the word strictly taken means "a short 
poem descriptive of some picturesque scene or incident, 
chiefly in rustic life." But, as Dr. Van Dyke shows in 
a criticism on the Idylls, such poems always have a 
central idea or feeling which colors the picture. 
"Tennyson," he says, "had written many poems of this 
type dealing with rural life which he called English idyls. 
He now wished to use the same method in dealing with 
the age of chivalry. He proposed, not to tell a long, 
unbroken story, but to^present a series of pictures, each 
one controlled and colored by a central idea, and each 
one showing a distinct stage in the course of the plot. 
They were all to be bound together by the same main 
thread of narrative. But at the same time each was to 
have a character of its own, and to be complete in itself, 



1 1 

as a separate scene in the drama of a kingdom. There- 
fore, he did not call the parts of his poem books or 
cantos, but idylls, because he was using the picturesque 
method ; and I suppose he doubled the 1 in order to 
distinguish them from his simpler, more rustic English 
idyls" 

DEFINITION OF TERM EPIC. 

An epic may be defined as a narrative poem which 
deals with heroic deeds and adventures. It generally 
contains some element of the supernatural, and must 
have a centra] point of unity round which the events of 
the poem revolve. 

The only one of these requirements which at first 
glance we do not seem to find in the Idylls is .the last 
named. If, then, the Idylls are to be considered as an 
epic poem, the question at once arises, " What is the 
central point of epic unity .'" For answer, turn to the 
Epilogue of the Idylls, the lines "To the Queen," 
(lines 33-42) 

" But thou,' my Queen, 

Not for itself, but thro' thy living love 

For one to whom I made it o'er his grave 

Sacred, accept this old imperfect tale, 

New-Old, and shadowing Sense at war with Soul 

Ideal manhood clothed in real man 

Rather than that gray king whose name, a ghost. 

Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain peak, 

"And cleaves to cairn and cromlech still ; or him 

Of Geoffrey's book or him of Malleor's." 

This is the golden thread on which all these pearls are 
strung. Here Tennyson tells us plainly that he intends 
in the Idylls to show the warfare of Soul against Sense 
rather than to write a history of Arthur as he appears 
either in the Welsh legends or in the books of Geoffrey 
or Malory. 



I 2 

Tennyson's own idea on tlic subject is clear enough. 
In the introduction to his " Morte d'Arthur" (published 
in the volume of 1842) he speaks of " his epic — his Kinj^ 
Arthur, some twelve books." 

Hallam Tennyson, in hisj^^reat biof^raphy of his father, 
says in speaking of the Id} lis : "If epic unity is looked 
for, we find it not in the wrath of an Achilles, nor in the 
wanderings of a Ulysses, but in the world-wide war of 
Sense and Soul typified in individuals, the central 
dominant figure being the pure, generous, tender, brave, 
human-hearted Arthur." 

Notable among critics who agree that we have here an 
epic are Taine, who says that in the Idylls Tennyson 
"has become epic, antique, and ingenuous, like Homer;" 
Noel, who speaks of the poem as "this noble epic;" 
Stedman, who calls the book 'the epic of chivalry;" 
Gladstone, who writes: "The Laureate has evidently 
grasped the genuine law which makes man, and not the 
mere acts of m^n, the base of epic song;" Littledale, 
who puts it : "If we grant that an epic may have unity 
of subject without unity of action, may have spiritual 
rather than dramatic unity, we may conclude that the 
poet has here created a new form which future ages will 
probably call the Tennysonian or id\llic epic;" and Dr. 
Van Dyke, the greatest American authority on Tennyson, 
who in all his criticisms on the Idylls treats them as 
an epic poem. 

There is another link which connects the different 
Id}lls — the cycle of the seasons. Each of the poems is 
set in a time of the year suited to the events narrated. 
The king first appears on the night of the New Year — * ■ the 
fair beginning of a time." He weds Guinevere in the 
marriage season of spring. In this same season Gareth, 
with his overflowing love of life and action, appears. 
The wavering love of Geraint settles down into the steady 



13 

summer blaze of the mowing season. The sudden 
thunder storm of Merlin and Vivien is in keeping 
with Vivien's passionate nature, as the ruin it brings to 
the noble oak is with the downfall of Merlin. Then 
comes the torrid heat of later summer as a setting for 
the burning passion of the lily maid, Elaine, for Lancelot. 
The broken weather of The Holy Grail is a fitting back- 
ground for the madness of the quest with its disappointed 
hopes. Then follows the melancholy autumn of the 
decaying knighthood of The Last Tournament and Pelleas 
and Ettarre. In Guinevere the white mist of winter clings 
to the earth like a face cloth to the countenance of the 
dead.' Arthur's hopes, too, are dead. With the last 
day of the year the King passes away into the great 
unknown from which he came. 

(Observe here that we are not intended to think that 
the events narrated in the Idylls took place in one year. 
The poet simply takes successive seasons from a number 
of years until his year stands complete.) 



NATURE IN THE IDYLLS. 

In connection with this cycle of the seasons may be 
noticed Tennyson's descriptions of Nature and his 
wonderful figures of speech founded thereon. In the 
Idylls his minute, varied and accurate knowledge of the 
world around him is fully shown. There is, too, always 
a subtle harmony between the figure and the human 
mood to be illustrated. Many of Tennyson's landscapes 
are, it is true, art products— made for a purpose — though 
not less beautiful or true on that account. Of the four 
elements, he loved water best and used it most perfectly 
in figures of speech. These should be carefully noted. 



.\ 



14 
PLACES ly THE IDYLLS. 

There are two theories as to the situation of the places 
mentioned in the old stories and in Tennyson's reproduction 
of these. The first is that the scenes are laid chiefly in 
the western and southwestern parts of England. The 
second is that they are to be found in the north of 
England and in Scotland. The first seems to be the 
more probable. 

Lyonnesse is supposed to have stretched from Cornwall 
to the Scilly Islands but is now submerged. 

Tiutagil Castle, now in ruins, is in Cornwall. 
' Cainelot, was probably in Somerset. 

Avilion is at Glastonbury, Somerset. 

Glastonbury, is the supposed burial place of Arthur 
and Guinevere. 

Caerlyle is usually taken to be Carlisle. 

Caerlcon is on the Usk, though there were several 
Caerleons. (Caer-leon for Castra legionis. ) 

Cavielaird is Scotland. 

Aluiesbiiry, is in Wiltshire. 

Astvlat, Malory says, is Gylford, 

The names given to Arthur's battles (Lancelot and 
Elaine) seem to be in the North, thus supporting the 
second theorv named above. 



OUTLINE FOR CHARACTER SKETCHES 



Innate character. * 

How affected b\' environment. 

Special traits of character. 

Greatest trait. 

Influence on others and on Arthur's purpose. 

Lessons to be learned from the character. 



15 

SUGGESTED OUTLINE FOR SKETCH OF GARETH 
UNDER THESE HEADS 

1. Born with a noble ambition. Love for mother. 
Obedience. 

2. Not affected by foul talk of the thralls. Remains 
unchanged under Kay's oppression. Is uplifted by the 
sight of the jousts. Not turned aside from his purpose 
by Lynette's reviling nor by the dangers of his quest. 
Is made boastful by his successes. Is urged to greater 
efforts by Lynette's kind words. 

3. Ambition to do good. Obedience. Bravery. 
Courtesy. Determination. Purity. 

4. A splendid conception of what a true life should be. 
("Follow the deer ? Follow the Christ — the King.") 

5. Influences all with whom he comes in contact for 
good-^the thralls — Lynette. Is one of Arthur's greatest 
knights, and nobly helps on his purpose. 

6. The duty of obedience to those set over us. The 
soft answer. Victory and reward come at last to him 
who persists though often overthrown. 

(N. B.— Lines should be quoted to substantiate 
statements. 

OUTLINE FOR EXPOSITORY SKETCH. 

Use and Fame (Merlin and Vivien, 403-523.) 

1. Definition of terms. 

2. The good to be done by use (by being useful) : (a) 
to oneself ; (b) to others. 

3. Means by which one may reach a state of being 
useful. 

4. Proper reasons for desiring fame. 

5. Proper means by which fame may be obtained. 

6. How fame adds to use and use to fame. 

7. Contrast of the relative value of the two. 



i6 

CONDITION OF THE COURT IN THE VARIOUS IDYLLS. 

(A base for the parable and allej^ory.) 
In Gareth and Lynette vve find the Court at its best, 
and how could it be otherwise when the knights are 
keeping, and keeping gladly such vows as these : 

" I made them lay their hands in mine and swear 
To reverence the King, as if he were 
Their conscience, and their conscience as their King ; 
To break the heathen and nphold the Christ, 
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs. 
To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it, 
To honor his own word as if his God's, 
To lead sweet lives in purest chastity. 
To love one maiden only, cleave to her, 
And worship her by years of noble deeds, 
Until he won her." — {iininevere, 464-474.) 

In The Marriage of Geraint we hear the first whisper 
of evil in the lines : 

" But when a rumor rose about the Queen, 
Touching her guilty love for Lancelot, 
Tho' yet there lived no proof, nor yet was heard. 
The world's loud whisper breaking into storm, 
Not less Geraint believed it " — (AJnrriij^e of G^rnin/, 24-2S.) 

But as yet it is only a rumor which has in no way 
affected the purity of the Round Table, for Edyrn, the 
wicked knight, in speaking of his reception at the Court, 
whither he had been sent prisoner by Geraint, says : 

I found. 

Instead of scornful pity or pure scorn, 

Such fine reserve and noble reticence, 

Manners so kind, yet stately, such a grace 

Of tenderest courtesy," etc. — [GeroinI mid Eniil, 857-861 ) 

In BaWn and Balan we learn that the sin of the Queen 
and Lancelot is known now outside Arthur's Court, for 
when Balin is at the castle of King Pellain, Garlon says 
to hitn, speaking of Guinevere : 



17 

" Fairest I grant her: I have seen; but best, 
Best, purest ? tliou from Arthur's hall, and yet 
So simple ! hast thou eyes, or if, are these 
So far besotted that they fail to see 
This fair wife-worship cloaks a secret shame ? " 

— {Balin and Balan, 351-355) 

In Merlin and Vivien some of the knights break one 

of the vows they have sworn. There had been a day 

when they would not even Hsten to slander : how is 

it now ? 

" But Vivien 

Arriving at a time of golden rest. 
And sowing one ill hint from ear to ear, 
* * * * 

Leaven'd his hall. They heard and let her be." 

— {Merlin and Vivien, 135-144.) 

And later, Merlin does not deny but evades answering 
her charge against Lancelot and the Queen. 

In Lancelot and Elaine the picture grows darker. First 
Lancelot and then the Queen deliberately lie to Arthur, 
and Gawain, forgetting "the courtesy due to kings," 
breaks his vow of obedience when sent to find the winner 
of the Diamond Joust. Gawain also indicates in his 
speech to Elaine at parting {lines 693-696), that mar- 
riage vows are but lightly regarded at the court. 

In The Holy Grail the knights have fallen so far from 
their former state of spiritual purity that but three of 
them achieve the quest. (More strictly speaking, but 
two — Bors and Percivale — ac]iicve the quest, for Gallahad 
sees it from its first appearance in the hall, from which 
place he simply follows it at its command to the spiritual 
city.) 

In Pelleas and Ettarre, we are led to think that the 
King alone is pure. After Ettarre has proved false to 
Pelleas, and Gawain has basely deceived him, the young 
knight meets Percivale in the way and questions him : 



1 ,.- 



i8 

" ' Is the Queen false ?' and P'ercivale was mute. 
» 
' Have any of our Kound Table held their vows ? ' 

And Percivale made answer not a word. 

■ Is the King true ? ' ' The King ! ' said Percivale, 

' Why, then let men couple at once with wolves, 

What, art thou mad ?' " — (Pel/ens ami Ettnrre, 522-527 ) 

In The Last Tournament we rapidly approach the end. 
We see the laws of the tourney broken and Lancelot, the 
judge, sit silent. Tristram insults . the ladies present, 
and there is none to defend "them. Drunken revelling 
and feasting follow the jousts, while Tristram, defying at 
once all of Arthur's laws, bears off the prize to Isolt.wife 
of the king of Cornwall. And worse than all, the knights, 
in very presence of their King, turn brutes, massacre the 
men and women of the Red Knight, and stamp his face 
into the mire. 

There can be but one step more to make the downfall 
of the court complete, and this is described in the last 
eight lines of the Idyll. Arthur comes home to find that 
the Queen has f^ed. A lesser artist would have given us 
here some account of Arthur's anger and despair, of the 
excitement of the court, of the triumph of Modred, but 
not so Tennyson. Has Shakespeare himself anything 
finer than this ? 

" That night came Arthur home, and wl'ile he climed. 
All in a death-dumb autumn-dripping gloom, 
The stairway to the hall, and look'd and saw 
The great Queen's bower was dark — about his feet 
A voice clung sobbing till he question'd it, 
■ What art thou ?' and the voice about his feet 
Sent up an answer, sobbing,' I am thy fool. 
And I shall never make thee smile again." " 

There is nothing more. With the flight of the Queen 
the Round Table falls ; then follow treason, rebellion, 
the death struggle in the heavy mist — and darkness. 



THE PARABLE AND ALLEGORY IN THE IDYLLS. 

" If the Idylls, as some claim, be mere poetic pageantry, 
it becomes necessary to explain sat- 
isfactorily innumerable obscure passages, which have no 
significance under this mere word-painting theory, as 
well as to give the chief characters and the main action 
of the drama a rational perspective. Who is Arthur, 
who, though wounded, cannot die ; whose coming and 
whose passing are a mystery beyond the ken of man, 
since 'from the great deep to the great deep he goes?' 
Who Merlin, the sage, and, above all, the Lady of the 
Lake, who dwells at the bases of the hills ? Who the 
three Fair Queens, destined to help Arthur at his need ? 
What is Excalibur, the mystic weapon given to Arthur 
by the Lady of the Lake at the installation of the Round 
Table 4;o be returned to her at his passing? What is 
the mystic city of Camelot, built to music, therefore 
never built at all, and therefore built forever? These 
and other aspects of the Idylls, utterly unintelligible on 
the -word-painting theory, are, it maybe urged, but the 
unwitting inheritance of the old legend, and Tennyson's 
heroics are only unmeaning echoes of the ancient 
mysticism. Yet the mystical element is there, and those 
who would deny its significance in the Idylls must bear 
the onus of proof that the poet has not seized upon those 
legendary shadows of higher things to body forth his own 
conception of his ideal, moulding them after the fashion 
of his own genius." (Fallen.) 

We must not, however, in studying the Idylls attempt 
to read into every line an allegorical meaning, to take 
every character as part of the parable, to find a hidden 
mystery in every image. To do this would be to destroy 
the artistic perspective and the proper proportions of 
the poem. 



20 

If Tennyson in writing the Idylls intended, as perhaps 
he did, to rebi^ke the spirit of gross realism so prevalent 
in nineteenth century literature, he succeeded in a marked 
degree. His message is luminous to those who are not 
so blind as to have no desire to see. The highest function 
of art is to express truth, not to show the mere mechanism 
of art. But when man loses sight of truth as the base 
of all art, he naturally magnifies its mechanism. This 
is one of the faults of the modern school of realism. 
Lacking true^spiritual insight it has made much of formal 
symbolism. Its chief fault, however, is that it has but 
rarely shown us man at his best, but rather man as a 
b.east among the husks. 

Tennyson himself speaks of the poem as "the dream 
of man coming into practical life and ruined b\' one sin. 
It is not the history of one man or of one generation, but 
of a whole cycle of generations." 

The key to the parable and allegory in the Idylls is 
found in the lines To the Queen already quoted in establish- 
ing the claim that the Idylls are to be regarded as an epic 
poeni. Srfisf at ivar ifitli Soul is the theme which, old 
as mankind, is made new by the poet in his treatment of 
the legends. Without this interpretation they are little 
more than a series of beautiful pictures painted by the 
hand of a master of poetic form. 

In the phrase Sense at i>.'ar ivitli Soul, Sense is used 
in its broadest meaning, and signifies intemperance, 
sensuality, disobedience, lawless power, and disregard for 
truth and honor — in sho^t, any power of evil. And so. 
in the poem. Sense is represented not by any one character 
but by every evil influence at war with the Soul. In the 
same way. Soul stands for all that is high and noble in 
the various characters, finding its highest expression in 
the Kingr. 



21 

The Coming of Arthur. Swathed in fire, the symbol 
of hfe, the King, hke the soul, comes out of the great 
deep of eternity. 

Guinevere is the type of the perfect body. Alone, the 
Soul cannot do its work. Hence Arthur cries: 

For saving I be joined 
To her that is the fairest under heaven, 
I seem as nothing in this mighty world. 

— { Cowing of Arthur, 84-86. ) 

Leodogran is a type of those who doubt the immortality 
of the Soul, and who refuse to acknowledge its kingship 
without proof thereof. Leodogran's dream is a vision of the 
war of human passions at their worst, refusing to obey 
the spiritual man. But at the end of the conflict the 
Soul stands out crowned, the ideal become the only 
reality. 

Ballicent is a type of those who accept the soul on 
faith, although their curiosity would iain pierce the secret 
of Its origm. K^^^i^ '^-^ ~^^ ^ r-^.^-^^^^ ..^..^-^-s. 

Merlin, m whom Intellect and Wisdom are personified, 
is the guide and counsellor of the Soul. He alone knows 
the secret of Arthur's birth. 

Through" the power of the soul the knights of the 
Round Table come to represent the spiritualized body, 
social and political. 

The three mystic queens who appear at the coronation 
are evidently Faith, Hope and Charity, the heavenly 
virtues that shall help the Soul at its need. 

The Lady of the Lake is Religion. She knows a 
subtler art than the art of Merlin : even so is spiritual 
wisdom deeper than intellectual. She it is who gives to 
the Soul its weapon — Excalibur — to be used in its con- 
flict with Sense. 



22 

Lancelot t3pifies the moral nature, the greatest aid 
which the Soul* can have in its warfare, but which, over- 
come by Sense, becomes a rotten prop. 

In the song of the knights at Arthur's coronation we 
learn that the old order of the rule of lust is changed. 
The Soul is recognised by all and for a time reigns 
supreme. 

Gareth and Lynette. We have iiere an epitome of the 
theme of the Idylls — a minor allegory within the main 
allegory, the story of the spiritualized man come victor 
over the powers of evil. To such a man no service 
could be too lowly : hence his willingness to serve as a 
kitchen knave. Dressed as a tiller of the soil he sets out 
for Camelot, but no poor outward show can hide the 
spiritual man within. 

Wonderful is the symbolism of the gate to Arthur's 
City. Over the gate is carved the image of the Lady of 
the Lake. Religion is the gateway by which one must 
enter the city of the Soul. Her arms uphold the social 
and moral order. From her hands flows the water of 
baptism. The censer signifies prayer ; the sword the 
Church Militant. The sacred fish on her breast is the 
early Christian symbol of Christ, the iciithus, formed 
from the initial letters of the Greek " Jesus Christ, God's 
Son, Saviour." Arthur's wars are the battles of Soul and 
Sense, while crowning all are the three virtues. Faith, 
Hope and Charity. 

To Gareth, gazing thereon, comes out an old man 
(Merlin } ) who tells them of this city of the Soul. All the 
refining influences of old times together with the best 
moral, mental and religious experiences of the past — 
influences and experiences which are still at work — con- 
stitute the city in which the Soul dwells. The city was 
"built to music," therefore harmoniously; "therefore 
never built at all" for spiritual development is infinite in 



23 

its possibilities; "therefore built forever" — what has 
been done to make better this habitation of the Soul 
cannot be undone. Some (materialists) hold the city 
real, the King a shadow, i. e. they deny the existence 
of the Soul. 

The river is the stream of time : the three loops youth, 
middle age and old age. The three guardians of the 
fords the temptations of these different ages. The 
Morning Star typifies the power of pleasure and of pride : 
the bridge of single arc, the impetuosity of youth. The 
Noon-day Sun is wealth and worldly ambition. The 
Evening Star, with his hardened skins, represents the evil 
habits of a life-time, to be overcome only as Gareth 
overcomes, by casting bodily away. 

The allegory on the cliff from which these brothers 
have drawn their names is the key to this Idyll, biit it is 
more: 'it gives us the motif of the whole Round Table 
series. The» Soul in its journey through the world is 
assailed by the temptations of pleasure in youth, by the 
glitter of gold and worldly power in middle age, and in 
old age by evil habits formed in both the former stages. 
It fiies for succor to the hermit's cave to find consolation 
and strength in the spiritual life. 

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" — 
for the spiritual man who has overcome the enemies of 
life, death has no fears. Gareth meets his last enemy 
bravely : 

" Then with a stronger buffet he clove the helm 
As throughly as the skull ; and out from this 
Issued the bright face of a blooming boy." 

It is the old, old lesson : life from death, and immortality 
from the shadows of the grave. 

The Marriage of Geraint. Geraint and Enid. There is 
less of allegorical significance in the two Geraint Idylls than 
in any of the others. It is here, however, that Sense 



24 

first bej^ins to make headway. It is as yet but a little 
cl(}ud which hgis ^athered*in Arthur's clear sky : 

" But when a rumor rose about the Queen, 
Touching her guihy love for Lancelot," 

a rumor only, yet it is a shadow of a sin which for a 
time darkens two pure lives. In the heart of Geraint 
the poison works, and Suspicion takes up her abode 
where Love had ruled. 

What a picture the court of Earl Doorm presents! 
Here, where the influence of the spiritual man has not 
come, sensual passion and lawlessness hold sway, while 
Edyrn on whom this uplifting influence falls, becomes a 
man, noble, sane, obedient. 

Balin and Balan. It is in this Idyll that Sense wins 
her first important victory. A terrible picture is pre- 
sented here, a picture of a strong man who has lived 
down his own sin only to lose faith in all that is pure and 
noble through the wickedness of others. In Balin, the 
beast has been conquered for a time by the power of the 
spiritual man, but at last Sense, in the person of Vivien, 
fills him with a fury which brings both him and his great- 
hearted brother to their deaths. 

In King Pellam's court we see the external show of 
spirituality without the Soul. So taken up is Pellam 
with the outward form of religion, that he neglects his 
obligation to his King. "Man's word is God in man." 
says Arthur. The lesson is clear. 

Merlin and Vivien. Some of Tennyson's critics have 
found great fault with his treatment of Vivien, for he has 
made her a much worse*character than she af)peared in 
the old legends. But with the allegory ever in his mind, 
the poet must have felt just here that, for its proper 
development, he needed some active force of evil, that 
should with subtilty and yet with absolute sureness un- 



25 

derrnine the structure which the Soul had built, a force 
which should have power over every element in man's 
nature save one — the spiritual. We have said that Merlin 
represents Wisdom or Intellectual Power. Now in the 
old lej^ends Merlin is bewitched by Nimue or Vivien. 
What then more natural than for Tennyson to have made 
this Vivien the force that is to have power over all with 
which ir comes in contact save the Soul itself. Merlin 
is the eyes of the Soul ; he it is who guards its spiritual 
kingdom. The Soul cannot be overcome until he is 
conquered, for not till Wisdom sleeps can Sense hope to 
triumph. In Merlin's downfall we see the beginning of 
the end. 

Lancelot and Elaine. The under-current here is full 
of hopelessness. Guinevere complains that Arthur lacks 
that one touch of earthly, color which would have kept 
her true to him : poor weak excuse so often made by our 
human nature to the God within us — we cannot or rather 
we will not measure up to the highest ideals which are 
set before us. 

There are two other points of allegorical significance 
in this Idyll in which the relation of body to soul is clearly 
shown : the first makeS"A:lear the fact that sin has its 
effect upon the body as well as upon the soul, while the 
second shows that the condition of the body often has 
a marked effect upon our spiritual condition. When 
Conscience writes her reproaches it is not upon the 
spiritual man alone that the effect is seen : her mark is 
deeply set upon the fairest face. So it was with Lancelot : 

' • The great and guilty love he bear the Queen 

* * ^ * * * * 

Had marr'd his face and mark'd it ere his time." 

When he is wounded and at the point of death he 
makes "Full many a holy vow and pure resolve*' to 
break once and for all the guilty bonds which bind him 



26 

to the Queen. But he is not spiritualized enough to he 
free for when "the blood runs lustier in him again" 
Guinevere's face rising to his mind, causes him to forget 
his vows. It is but another case of 

"The devil fell sick : the devil a saint would be. 
The devil got well : the devil a saint was he." 

We have seen in Balin and Balan that Sense claims 
two victims — the once mighty brothers ; then Merlin, the 
wise man. falls through her baleful power. In this Idyll 
she seems to have gained complete ascendancy over two 
of the principal characters, Lancelot and the Queen. 
Though they acknowledge their sin to each other, they 
will not give it up, and because of their guilty love, the 
lily maid Elaine lays down her life. We have no hope 
of Lancelot after this. It is as though heaven had given 
him in the proffered love of Elaine one last chance of 
escape. Even so in every human life comes the time 
when we must make the final choice between right and 
wrong. 

The Holy Grail. Here are men striving after spiritual 
perfection and yet so far have most of the knights fallen 
from the high standard which Arthur has set for them 
that but three are pure enough to see the Grail. 

Gawain's story is that of the man to whom one talent 
was given : he has been content from the first to believe 
that the quest was not for him, and so instead he spent 
his twelvemonth and a day in the silk pavilion of pleasure. 

There is a lesson for us all in Lancelot's reasoning 
before he sets out on the quest. He goes because he 
hopes that he may see the Grail, and by its grace be 
enabled to pluck out his sin. The holy man, however, 
tells him that the heart must be pure or he can never 
look on holy things. Let him first pluck out his sin and 
the blessed vision of the Grail will come to him like a 



27 

benediction. The lion in his way is, of course, his great 
sin which stands between him and spiritual perfection. 

In the adventures of Sir Percivale we have a minor 
allegory as in the case of Gareth. While searchmg for 
the Grail he learns that he who would reach to planes 
of higher spiritual power must give up all that may hinder, 
no matter how harmless in itself. The water of the 
brook and the apples, the woman spinning at the door, 
the man in golden armor, and the great city- — symbolizing 
respectively the appetites, home life, wealth, and worldly 
power — all crumble into dust when Percivale touches 
them. 

Percivale learns another lesson. Puffed up with pride 
over his victory in the tournament he fails utterly to 
achieve the quest until he learns the lesson of humility, 
" highest virtue of them all," without which there can be 
no spiritual growth. 

' ' The bird that soars on highest wing 
Builds on the ground her lowly nest ; 
And she that doth most sweetly sing, 
Sings in the shade when all things rest. 
In lark and nightingale we see 
What honor hath humility." — [Montgomeiy.) 

There is an old superstition that the pelican sometimes 
gives her own blood to her little ones that they may live. 
How fitting then that Sir Bors should wear a pelican on 
his casque for he is the type of self-sacrifice — he would 
give up his own hope to see the Grail that Lancelot 
might see: 

The four great zones of sculpture which girdle Arthur's 
hall are symbolical of the progress of the human race 
from utter savagery to a state of highest spiritual per- 
fection. Over all human progress reigns the Soul. 

Pelleas and Ettarre. There is but little of allegorical 
significance in this Idyll. The effect on a noble char- 



28 

acter of the sin of Lancelot and the Queen is, however, 
powerfully sliown. Pelleas, young, pure, noble and 
ambitious — another Gareth — outraged at the treatment 
which he receives from Ettarre and Gawain, becomes the 
type of a man blown about by his passions, a hot wind 
from the desert of dead hopes that would blast and kill. 

The Last Tournament. The Last Tournament is called 
" The Tournament of the Dead Innocence," for the prize 
was the necklace worn by the baby which Lancelot had 
rescued from the eagle's nest and which had died soon 
after being carried to the Queen, but the name has a 
deeper significance than this : the innocence of the court 
also is dead. Disobedience, revelling, passion and lust 
walk openly and the jousts are a dismal failure. On the 
morning following the tournament Dagonet and Tristram 
have a long conversation which contains many strong 
allegorical allusions. Dagonet, the fool, is spiritually 
wise, while Tristram, the would-be wise man proclaims 
himself a worldly fool. Tristram excuses himself for his 
sins by saying that when he came to the court the Round 
Table was already corrupt. How fitting a t^pe of the 
many Tristrams in the world who are content to drift 
with the tide of public opinion, rather than by opposing 
brave its displeasure. Tristram's reasoning in regard to 
those who try to effect reforms is clever but, if admitted 
to be true, is fatal to all human progress. He says : 

" The ptarmigan that whitens ere his hour 
Woos his own end " 

The statement is true, but what of all great reformers .-* 
Have they not stood boldly for the right in season and 
out of season even against the world ? 

The cup from which Dagonet drinks on the day of the 
Tournament is a faithful picture of the court — splendid 
without, but the draught is mud. 



29 

At the close of Dagonet's speech he tells Tristram why 
Arthur has failed in his endeavor to raise his knights to 
his own high standard. Tristram asks : " Is the King thy 
brother fool ? " and Dagonet replies with exquisite 
sarcasm : 

"Ay, ay, my brother fool, the king of fools ! 
Conceits himself as God that he can make 
Figs out of thistles, silk from bristles, milk 
From burning spurge, honey from hornet-combs, 
And men from beasts — Long live the king of fools 1 " 

And here we may read one of the parable's deepest 
lessons : nothing less than a miracle of divine power can 
raise a man against his will to a higher plane of being. 

Tristram's "star in heaven" is Arthur; his "star 
within the mere " but a retiection, and having neither the 
desire nor the energy to strive for higher things, 'he is 
contented like many another with an empty mockery 
which the first breath of wind will destroy. 

Guinevere. In this Idyll we see the Soul forsaken by 
those whom it had loved best and held truest. There 
is one lesson which stands out above all others just here, 
the lesson which the Saviour taught even from the cross : 
" Love your enemies." It is with this forgiveness of 
Guinevere by Arthur that many of our critics find fault. 
They say that the King shows himself a weakling here — 
that his pride should have prevented such a scene — that 
no man could have so forgiven. We may easily grant 
all this — it is true that uo mere man would have been 
likely to have forgiven, at least so freely and fully. But 
had Arthur not forgiven in this way, the parable would 
have failed at its very climax. We have endeavored to 
show that Arthur as the type of the Soul is more than 
man. Look for a moment at his character as Tennyson 
draws it. It is not a strongly drawn character as we 
commonly use the term ; indeed we completely lose sight 



30 

of the King at tiines in the deeds of others. When he 
does appear 'it is as a morahst rather than as a great 
king. There is no splendid action on his part to enthrall 
us, no great battles in which he leads his army to victory, 
none of the glamour and glitter with which the great of 
earth are usually surrounded. And yet, reading more 
carefully, we can feel the King behind every part of the 
story. Note too, how even the worst pay tribute to his 
purity, his moral greatness, his influence on all for good, 
his Christlike qualities of mercy and forgiveness. And 
so it is, after a study of this great parable of the life of 
man in its warfare against Sense, that we come to see 
•that Tennyson has not intended to create the character 
of an earthly king but rather to present a great moral 
force, a type of spirituality, a new Imitation of Christ. 

The Passing of Arthur. It is with a feeling akin to 
despair that we make ready to close the book of the 
allegory, for Sense seems to be so completely victorious. 
But read closely to the end. Surel}' our dead poet whose 
faith in God was boundless, whose belief in the life beyond, 
no sneering infidel could shake, no school of German 
philosophy destroy ; whose life was love ; whose life-work 
done, has seen his "Pilot face to face" — surely he has 
not left us without hope. No, the end is not here, the 
victory of Sense is but for a time. Arthur passes away 
from earthly sight, but that is not all. " He will come 
again," cries Sir Bedivere, "he has gone away only to 
the healing of his wound ; he cannot die," and thus the 
belief in immortality which, through all the ages past, 
has cheered the heart of a weary world, will uphold us here. 

It is said that the peasant folk of Wales and Cornwall, 
descendants of the men who fought under Arthur's banner, 
still look for his return, and that they hold true the in- 
scription said to have been carved upon his tomb : 



31 

And shall not we of larger wit look forward to a time 
when Sense shall be put away, when the Soul shall come 
again to rule those who will keep its vows, and when, 
lifted from the darkness of our last great battle in the 
West, we shall know the meaning of the conflict here, 
and understand the mystery of life in that other land 
*• where beyond these voices there is peace" ? 



APR 6 1903 



BELL'S 
-^f POTOMAC PRESS, jfr 

\, VA. 

_, 



ALEXANDRIA. VA. 



1*^- 



I TBRARV OF CONGRESS 

lillll 

014 548 396 7 



